It's the fighter pilot's dream. The McDonnell Douglas F-15 is fast, amazingly agile and climbs like a rocket. It can "zoom-climb" to an astonishing altitude of 98,400 feet, and reach its normal operating ceiling of 59,000 feet -- flying at two-and-a-half times the speed of sound -- in just two minutes. With the best combat radar in the world, it can detect and destroy enemies way beyond the pilot's visual range. Despite its huge size, the F-15's maneuverability makes it a ferocious dogfighter when the encounters get close and dirty. That's why nearly 100 enemy aircraft have fallen victim to the F-15, while no Eagle has ever been lost in aerial combat.

Pictured here is a stunning 1:48 scale diecast replica of a F-15 Eagle that was flown by the 53rd Tactical Fighter Squadron during the 50th Tiger Meet.
Sold Out!

Dimensions:
Wingspan: 10.5-inches
Length: 15.75-inches

Historical Account: "Forged in Fire" - The Treaty of Brussels, signed on March 17th, 1948, by Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, France, and the United Kingdom, is considered the precursor to the NATO agreement. This treaty established a military alliance, later to become the Western European Union. However, American participation was thought necessary in order to counter the military power of the Soviet Union, and therefore talks for a new military alliance began almost immediately.

These talks resulted in the North Atlantic Treaty, which was signed in Washington, DC on April 4th, 1949.

It included the five Treaty of Brussels states, as well as the United States, Canada, Portugal, Italy, Norway, Denmark and Iceland. Three years later, on February 18th, 1952, Greece and Turkey also joined.

Because of geography, Australia and New Zealand missed out on membership. In place of this, the ANZUS agreement was made by the United States with these nations.

In 1954, the Soviet Union suggested that it should join NATO to preserve peace in Europe. The NATO countries rejected this, seeing it as an attempt to subvert NATO from within.

The incorporation of West Germany into the organization on May 9th, 1955, was described as "a decisive turning point in the history of our continent" by Halvard Lange, Foreign Minister of Norway at the time. Indeed, one of its immediate results was the creation of the Warsaw Pact, signed on May 14th, 1955, by the Soviet Union and its satellite states as a formal response to this event, firmly establishing the two opposing sides of the Cold War.